CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 30Digital Accessibility for DisabilitiesTactile and Sensory InteractionsAssistive Technology in Communication and Mobility

Touch Screen Exploration of Visual Artwork for Blind People

Open access
Ahmetovic, Dragan, Kwon, Nahyun, Oh, Uran, Bernareggi, Cristian, Mascetti, Sergio·2021·Proceedings of the Web Conference 2021
DOI 10.1145/3442381.3449871
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

This paper investigates how touchscreen exploration and verbal feedback can be used to support blind people to access visual artwork. We present two artwork exploration modalities. The first one, attribute-based exploration, extends prior work on touchscreen image accessibility, and provides fine-grained segmentation of artwork visual elements; when the user touches an element, the associated attributes are read. The second one, hierarchical exploration, is designed with domain experts and provides multi-level segmentation of the artwork; the user initially accesses a general description of the entire artwork and then explores a coarse segmentation of the visual elements with the corresponding high-level descriptions; once selected, coarse segments are subdivided into fine-grained ones, which the user can access for more detailed descriptions.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1145/3442381.3449871

Cites

2 of 2 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 31

  1. [1][1] Dragan Ahmetovic, Cristian Bernareggi, João Guerreiro, Sergio Mascetti, and Anna Capietto. 2019. AudioFunctions.web: Multimodal Exploration of Mathematical Function Graphs. In International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility. ACM. Digital Library Google Scholar
  2. [3][3] Saki Asakawa, João Guerreiro, Dragan Ahmetovic, Kris M. Kitani, and Chieko Asakawa. 2018. The Present and Future of Museum Accessibility for People with Visual Impairments. In ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS). ACM. Google Scholar
  3. [4][4] Saki Asakawa, João Guerreiro, Daisuke Sato, Hironobu Takagi, Dragan Ahmetovic, Desi Gonzalez, Kris M Kitani, and Chieko Asakawa. 2019. An Independent and Interactive Museum Experience for Blind People. In International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A). ACM. Google Scholar
  4. [10][10] Virginio Cantoni, Luca Lombardi, Alessandra Setti, Stanislav Gyoshev, Dimitar Karastoyanov, and Nikolay Stoimenov. 2018. Art masterpieces accessibility for blind and visually impaired people. In International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs. Springer. Crossref Google Scholar
  5. [11][11] Monica Carfagni, Rocco Furferi, Lapo Governi, Yary Volpe, and Giovanna Tennirelli. 2012. Tactile representation of paintings: an early assessment of possible computer based strategies. In Euro-Mediterranean Conference. Springer. Digital Library Google Scholar
  6. [12][12] Axel Carlier, Vincent Charvillat, Amaia Salvador, Xavier Giro-i Nieto, and Oge Marques. 2014. Click’n’cut: Crowdsourced interactive segmentation with object candidates. In International ACM Workshop on Crowdsourcing for Multimedia. Digital Library Google Scholar
  7. [13][13] Luis Cavazos Quero, Jorge Iranzo Bartolomé, Seonggu Lee, En Han, Sunhee Kim, and Jundong Cho. 2018. An Interactive Multimodal Guide to Improve Art Accessibility for Blind People. In International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility. ACM. Digital Library Google Scholar
  8. [16][16] Aram Dulyan and Ernest Edmonds. 2010. AUXie: initial evaluation of a blind-accessible virtual museum tour. In Conference of the Computer-Human Interaction Special Interest Group of Australia on Computer-Human Interaction. Digital Library Google Scholar
  9. [17][17] Giuseppe Ghiani, Barbara Leporini, and Fabio Paternò. 2009. Vibrotactile feedback to aid blind users of mobile guides. Journal of Visual Languages & Computing(2009). Google Scholar
  10. [20][20] Kozue Handa, Hitoshi Dairoku, and Yoshiko Toriyama. 2010. Investigation of priority needs in terms of museum service accessibility for visually impaired visitors. British journal of visual impairment(2010). Google Scholar
  11. [21][21] Kevin Hetherington. 2000. Museums and the visually impaired: the spatial politics of access. The Sociological Review(2000). Google Scholar
  12. [22][22] Leona Holloway, Kim Marriott, and Matthew Butler. 2018. Accessible maps for the blind: Comparing 3D printed models with tactile graphics. In Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM. Digital Library Google Scholar
  13. [23][23] Leona Holloway, Kim Marriott, Matthew Butler, and Alan Borning. 2019. Making Sense of Art: Access for Gallery Visitors with Vision Impairments. In Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM. Digital Library Google Scholar
  14. [25][25] Jorge Iranzo Bartolome, Luis Cavazos Quero, Sunhee Kim, Myung-Yong Um, and Jundong Cho. 2019. Exploring Art with a Voice Controlled Multimodal Guide for Blind People. In Thirteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction. Digital Library Google Scholar
  15. [26][26] Dhruv Jain. 2014. Pilot evaluation of a path-guided indoor navigation system for visually impaired in a public museum. In International ACM SIGACCESS conference on Computers & accessibility. ACM. Digital Library Google Scholar
  16. [28][28] Hernisa Kacorri, Sergio Mascetti, Andrea Gerino, Dragan Ahmetovic, Valeria Alampi, Hironobu Takagi, and Chieko Asakawa. 2018. Insights on Assistive Orientation and Mobility of People with Visual Impairment Based on Large-Scale Longitudinal Data. Transactions on Accessible Computing(2018). Google Scholar
  17. [29][29] Arlene S Kanter. 2019. Let’s Try Again: Why the United States Should Ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. Touro Law Review (2019). Google Scholar
  18. [30][30] N Kwon, Y Koh, and U Oh. 2019. Supporting object-level exploration of artworks by touch for people with visual impairments. In International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility. ACM. Digital Library Google Scholar
  19. [32][32] Lesley Langa, Jonathan Lazar, Taiwo Adesina, David Michael Baumgart, Vladimir Brockmeyer, Hollis Leroy Bush III, Edwin Corpuz, Brandon Eaton, Laura Fry, Andrea Herman, 2012. Museum Web Accessibility: A Pilot Assessment of Mid-atlantic Museums. International Journal of the Inclusive Museum (2012). Crossref Google Scholar
  20. [33][33] Barbara Leporini and Ivan Norscia. 2008. ”Fine Tuning” Image Accessibility for Museum Web Sites.Journal of Universal Computer Science(2008). Google Scholar
  21. [34][34] Nina Levent and Christine Reich. 2013. Museum accessibility: Combining audience research and staff training. Journal of Museum Education(2013). Google Scholar
  22. [35][35] Eleanor Lisney, Jonathan P Bowen, Kirsten Hearn, and Maria Zedda. 2013. Museums and technology: Being inclusive helps accessibility for all. Curator: The Museum Journal(2013). Google Scholar
  23. [41][41] Moritz Neumüller, Andreas Reichinger, Florian Rist, and Christian Kern. 2014. 3D printing for cultural heritage: Preservation, accessibility, research and education. In 3D Research Challenges in Cultural Heritage. Springer. Google Scholar
  24. [43][43] Yaniv Poria, Arie Reichel, and Yael Brandt. 2009. People with disabilities visit art museums: an exploratory study of obstacles and difficulties. Journal of Heritage Tourism(2009). Google Scholar
  25. [44][44] Kyle Rector, Keith Salmon, Dan Thornton, Neel Joshi, and Meredith Ringel Morris. 2017. Eyes-free art: Exploring proxemic audio interfaces for blind and low vision art engagement. Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies (2017). Digital Library Google Scholar
  26. [46][46] Judy Robertson. 2012. Likert-type scales, statistical methods, and effect sizes. Commun. ACM (2012). Google Scholar
  27. [47][47] Bryan C Russell, Antonio Torralba, Kevin P Murphy, and William T Freeman. 2008. LabelMe: a database and web-based tool for image annotation. International journal of computer vision(2008). Google Scholar
  28. [48][48] Daisuke Sato, Uran Oh, João Guerreiro, Dragan Ahmetovic, Kakuya Naito, Hironobu Takagi, Kris M. Kitani, and Chieko Asakawa. 2019. NavCog3: Large-Scale Blind Indoor Navigation Assistant with Semantic Features in the Wild. Transactions on Accessible Computing(2019). Google Scholar
  29. [49][49] Hengcan Shi, Hongliang Li, Fanman Meng, and Qingbo Wu. 2018. Key-word-aware network for referring expression image segmentation. In European Conference on Computer Vision. Digital Library Google Scholar
  30. [52][52] Rasa Urbas, Ana Kuscer, Mexhid Ferati, and Stankovic Elesini Urska. 2018. Accessibility of Slovenia’s Museums for Blind and Visually Impaired. In International Symposium on Graphic Engineering and Design. University of Novi Sad. Google Scholar
  31. [55][55] Jaroslaw Wiazowski. 2014. Can Braille be revived? A possible impact of high-end Braille and mainstream technology on the revival of tactile literacy medium. Assistive Technology(2014). Google Scholar Cited By View all Cassidy CBranham SRiley J(2026)ReadWithUs: A Co-Accessible Reading App for Visually Impaired Parents and Sighted ChildrenProceedings of the 28th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility10.1145/3797867.3841203(1-5)Online publication date: 25-Oct-2026 https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3797867.3841203 Li MShi YBennett CDas M(2026)"Catching lightning in a bottle": How Blind or Low Vision Creators Navigate Ideation Across Creative DomainsProceedings of the 28th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility10.1145/3797867.3829034(1-19)Online publication date: 25-Oct-2026 https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3797867.3829034 Hayward JVincenzi BKarpodini CTheil A(2025)How Do Disabled Visual Artists Use GenAI Tools for Business Administration Tasks?Proceedings of the 27th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility10.1145/3663547.3759708(1-5)Online publication date: 26-Oct-2025 https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3663547.3759708 Show More Cited By Index Terms (Premium feature) Touch Screen Exploration of Visual Artwork for Blind People Social and professional topics Professional topics Computing profession User characteristics Recommendations Recommendations (Premium feature) Understanding Visual Arts Experiences of Blind People CHI '23: Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Visual arts play an important role in cultural life and provide access to social heritage and self-enrichment, but most visual arts are inaccessible to blind people. Researchers have explored different ways to enhance blind people’s access to visual ... Read More Drawing and Understanding Diagrams: An Accessible Approach Dedicated to Blind People Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. User and Context Diversity · DOI

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Ahmetovic, D., Kwon, N., Oh, U., Bernareggi, C., & Mascetti, S.
Affiliations
  • University of Milan (IT)
  • Ewha Womans University (KR)
ORCID
Venue
Proceedings of the Web Conference 2021
Publisher
ACM
Published
2021-04-19
Pages
2781-2791
DOI
10.1145/3442381.3449871
OpenAlex
W3154084090
Cited by
30
References
2
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3
FWCI
5.92
Type
conference paper
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • International World Wide Web Conference (WWW) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Archivio Istituzionale della Ricerca (Universita Degli Studi Di Milano) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
  • National Research Foundation (2018M3C1B6061353)
  • National Research Foundation of Korea (2018M3C1B6061353)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Human Factors and Ergonomics › Digital Accessibility for Disabilities
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Tactile and Sensory Interactions
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › Occupational Therapy › Assistive Technology in Communication and Mobility
Keywords
blind people, verbal feedback, visual segmentation, image accessibility, assistive technology, visual description

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review